New Year. New You.
There is something about the ticking over of a new year that makes everyone want to wipe the slate clean and start again.
It makes us make lists of all the things we con't do again and all the things we want to.
While you are resetting your life goals, it is also a good time to take a look at your business and budget goals. There is no point going along expecting something different to happen without change or a plan.
If you got to the end of the year exhausted and underwhelmed with the money in the bank, or even worse, stressed out about having to pay your latest BAS on top of Christmas and school fees, it is time to throw it all on the table.
A plan for the future of anything, including your business, looks a little like this.
Where are we today? (NOW)
What has happened over the last 3 months, 12 months, 3 years? (THEN)
Where do you want to be in 12 months, 5 years, 10 years (FUTURE)
With the right information (such as what you can get from your Xero file), you have everything you need to get started.
But where do you start?
Print out your balance sheet at 31 December 2023 compared to the same date 2022. Have you made progress? What do your liquid assets such as the bank and stock look like? Have you bought more assets? Have you paid down your loans? Is your debt to the ATO getting bigger and bigger or you creditors blown out. What did you draw from the business this year? All this should be readily available and can be an interesting snap shot of your business health.
Print out a month by month profit and loss for the last 12 months. Compare this to prior years. Are your sales growing or falling? How much have you spent on investing in this and working to change it? Have you increased prices to reflect increased costs? Have sales gone down but wages gone up?
Based on what you have done, make a plan for what you want it to be. If you want your sales to increase by $200k and your profit by $100k that's great. Now make a plan on how! What will you change and how will you monitor it. Again, Xero has an amazing budget tool to help you keep track and set goals.
This without a doubt is my favourite thing to do in business. With over 25 years of helping small business I love helping people see what is there and fix it to something that works for them. If you have had a look over your numbers and it is all just too hard, please get in touch.
You will be amazed what we can achieve in a few hours and get the year started right.
From 1 Feb we are offering profit review and budget setting meetings from as little as $750.
Get in touch now for more information.
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